[meteorite-list] Opportunity's Devilish View from on High

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6265

Opportunity's Devilish View from on High
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
April 4, 2016

[Image]
>From its perch high on a ridge, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity 
recorded this image of a Martian dust devil twisting through the valley 
below. The view looks back at the rover's tracks leading up the north-facing 
slope of "Knudsen Ridge," which forms part of the southern edge of "Marathon 
Valley."

Opportunity took the image using its navigation camera (Navcam) on March 
31, 2016, during the 4,332nd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work 
on Mars.

Dust devils were a common sight for Opportunity's twin rover, Spirit, 
in its outpost at Gusev Crater. Dust devils have been an uncommon sight 
for Opportunity, though.

Just as on Earth, a dust devil is created by a rising, rotating column 
of hot air. When the column whirls fast enough, it picks up tiny grains 
of dust from the ground, making the vortex visible.

During the uphill drive to reach the top of Knudsen Ridge, Opportunity's 
tilt reached 32 degrees, the steepest ever for any rover on Mars.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute 
of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project 
for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

More information about Opportunity is at these sites:

http://www.nasa.gov/rovers

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov


News Media Contact

DC Agle
818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
agle at jpl.nasa.gov 

2016-095